Crowd trouble as Ghana win

CHAOS . . . Police move in to disperse fans from the stands in Malabo last night after disturbances that rocked the 2015 Nations Cup semi-final . â Mailonline

Makomborero Mutimukulu in MALABO, Equatorial Guinea E.Guinea………………………..(0)0 Ghana……………………………(2)3THE dream final is on but African football is in a mess after the semi-final clash between African Cup of Nations hosts Equatorial Guinea and Ghana was marred by crowd trouble at Estadio de Malabo last night.

On a night Equatorial Guinea security chiefs did not ask the Zimbabwe Commando Anti Terrorism Unit to deploy at the stadium, the image of African football was soiled, in front of millions of television viewers, as a section of the crowd stormed the pitch with eight minutes remaining.

The Angolan police, who were tasked with providing security at the match venue together with host countryâs security personnel, had a tough time in trying to bring the situation under control.

The disturbances caused a lengthy stoppage in play.

The Black Stars will now battle the Elephants of Cote dâIvoire for the right to be called kings of the continent on Sunday.

For the hosts the fairytale run ended at the hands of team that had seemingly perfected the art of choking a step away from the final.

Prior to last night Ghana had lost three consecutive Afcon semi-finals. Equatorial Guinea, meanwhile, will come back to Malabo tomorrow to take on the Democratic Republic of Congo in a third-place play off.

In front of a vociferous crowd at the 15 000 capacity stadium, the hosts looked pumped up and tried to fire off at the sound of Gabonese referee Eric Castaneâs kick-off whistle.

However, Esteban Beckerâs lads, in a bid to get off to an explosive start, hurried their efforts and mistimed their tackles.

On four minutes, quarter-final hero Javier Balboa attempted a spectacular overhead kick when a header could have been more lethal with Blacks Stars goalkeeper Razak Braimah exposed.